Spending Bills Make Americans Less Safe
Washington DC — Today, GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, condemned the FY 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The funding bill makes cuts to law enforcement agencies essential to curbing gun violence and weakens the country’s gun safety laws.
The legislation includes a harmful provision that will enable veterans who have been deemed “incompetent” by the Department Veterans Affairs (VA) to purchase a firearm by withholding information from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Currently, veterans with this designation, who are often at elevated risk of suicide, are prohibited from having guns and data is submitted to NICS in order to prevent these veterans from purchasing firearms. According to the latest National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report from the Veterans Administration, more than 17 veterans died by suicide each day in 2021.
Vanessa N. Gonzalez, GIFFORDS Vice President of Government and Political Affairs:
“These flawed funding bills gut critical law enforcement agencies and public safety programs, undermining the historic gun safety progress made in the last few years. After increased investment in gun violence prevention and the landmark passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which included support from key Republican leaders, this country saw a drop in homicides in 2023 for the first time in years. But with these dangerous policies enabling easier access to firearms for those most at risk and significant funding cuts, our families and communities will be endangered.
“Republicans and Democrats alike failed to prioritize public safety in this bill by including a dangerous gun lobby provision to block the VA from protecting veterans who may be at risk of suicide. Republicans duck the issue of gun violence and instead blame mental illness, then fight to allow individuals with diminished mental capacity unfettered access to guns. We need leaders in Congress who will stand up for the families and the communities they represent and fight to save lives—even when it’s hard.”
The FY 2024 Consolidated Appropriations Act contains six funding bills including Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act and the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The legislation includes major cuts to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the FBI, as well as to major public safety programs like grants to states to upgrade criminal and mental health records in NICS, and the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act grants.
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